Describe a teacher who has influenced you

The teacher who has influenced me most is Mrs Karimova, who taught me English when I was about fourteen. She was in her fifties, quite small, with a very calm voice, and she somehow managed to keep thirty teenagers quiet without ever raising it.

She taught English literature and grammar, but what made her special was her approach. Instead of just asking us to memorise rules, she brought in songs, short stories and even newspaper articles, and asked what we thought about them. I remember she once played a recording of a famous speech and asked us to describe how it made us feel, then explain which words had created that effect. It was the first time I realised that language is a tool you can use, not merely a subject you have to pass.

She also noticed that I was very shy and rarely spoke in class. Rather than putting me on the spot, she gave me small responsibilities, like reading the announcements, and she always praised the effort before pointing out any mistakes. Gradually, I became far more confident about speaking.

I felt enormous respect and gratitude towards her at the time, and I still do. Looking back, I'm quite sure that my decision to study English at university and to prepare for IELTS comes from those lessons. I visited her last year, and she remembered exactly which poem I had read aloud in class. That showed me how much she cared about every single student.